Not Most People Series

“It’s been exactly three months ago today when that special event happened, but the memories of that night with my childhood idol & icon are still very fresh in my mind. It’s like this friendly ghost that keeps haunting me, and you never want it to go away.” —Carlo dela Rosa

THE VISION

I really dreamt about this, and God knows I’m telling you the whole truth. As in, no kidding.

Sometime around October, I dreamt of Cyndi coming to Manila to perform in an open arena. She was so close to me. I was even able to take souvenir pictures with her while she was performing. Then, right after her concert, fans, including myself, were chasing her for some autographs. She went straight to her coach, but I kept on running just to follow her, but in the end I lost her. Unfortunately, none of the booklets from my entire Cyndi Lauper CD collection that I brought were signed.

That day, I woke up still feeling great and hoping that someday, Cyndi will return to the Philippines. A few months later, to my surprise, I never thought that particular “someday” would be so soon when I learned in December that Pulp Live World is bringing her back to perform for a one-night-only gig in Manila!

TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE

I was only 7 years old the first time I saw on TV this crazy, free-spirited, colorful woman sporting her yellow and red hair while her body was filled with tons of jewelry. ‘Twas the “We Are The World” era then. I thought to myself, “Wow! She’s not most people!“.

My fascination with Cyndi even became deeper when my cousin and I (we were both staying in the same family compound) started this little kiddo competition. We were always competing with almost everything ever since we were born: when we were being teased by our siblings and cousins, he was the “Ike Lozada” since he’s the chubby one and I was the “German Moreno” for being the slimmer one; he was the “Charlie Masso” of Menudo while I was the “Robbi Rosa” (since my last name is dela “Rosa”).

One day, we came up with the idea of choosing another idol that we can compare ourselves with, but this time in a female persona. Guess who were the two most prominent female singers of that time? Since his name starts with letter “M”, he chose Madonna, and that leaves me with Cyndi Lauper since my first name starts with letter “C.”.

The rest is history.

PRE-CONCERT

I was in Manila for my Christmas vacation when the news spread out. No Merriam-Webster or Oxford Dictionary, nor Wikipedia, could describe my mixed feelings at that time. But one thing I’m sure of: My dream came true. “What a perfect birthday and Christmas gift,” I thought to myself.

As a blogger, it was my duty as a patriotic die-hard Cynner to announce to the world that Cyndi is coming to town. So what I did was to search around music stores and other places then took photos of the promotional posters of her and post ’em in my blog. As a fan, I’m just as excited like a li’l kid expecting for my Christmas gift from Santa.

By January 3, 2012, I was finally able to feel with both my bare hands the two Patron A tickets that I purchased from Ticketnet’s booth. My hands were shaking, literally. It’s really happening. Recalling the recent concerts that Cyndi did, I thought it’d be nice to get an aisle seat since she always goes down the stage and mingles with her fans during the show. So I asked the ticket lady to check for me Row A, which was not available on both sides (left and right). Never mind what I said…try B. No luck yet. So I ended up with the nearest row with an aisle seat: F. And I must admit that I did drop the “F” word on myself for ending up in the sixth row. But I told myself that it’d be OK. “F” is “fine,” and I do have a “F-eeling” that my seat would be “F-reaking” awesome.

THE CONCERT

I left home in the morning. I went for a haircut with my best friend in his salon. I told my best friend that I wanted to look good when Cyndi saw me. So my best friend did his very best to style me up. Then in the afternoon, since I still had plenty of time, I went around Farmer’s Plaza and around the Araneta area to see if there were still other promotional displays of Cyndi that I hadn’t shot yet. Apparently, there were a lot…

Then in the evening, I met up with my other 3 friends who will watch the concert with me (Jack and her younger sister hold two Upper Patron tickets), and we went for dinner first before heading to the entrance gate. There was already a long line when we arrived. Since Giselle’s and my tickets are VIP ones, the guards told us that we don’t need to fall in line. So we stood on the side near where Pulp was giving out the media pass. There, I met another die-hard Cynner, Andres Bukid. We talked about everything that we knew about Cyndi. Then, as soon as the entrance lane became free, we headed inside. There, we had some more “Kodakan” moments.

My dear friend Frances Giselle Ng, thank you for taking photos and videos for me. All photos that you see here (except where otherwise specified) were mostly taken by her 🙂

With fellow die-hard Cynner and a newly-found friend, Andres Bukid 🙂

Inside, Giselle and I parted ways with Andres. Our seats were F1 and F2 on the left side, while Andres’s seat was on Row D on the right side. “Dang!”, I said to myself. That time, I just hoped that Cyndi would stand in front of us. Fingers-crossed.

* * *

OPENING ACT

The tik-tok beating in my heart even became more intense when the opening act, 80’s Pinoy Rock Diva Lou Bonnevie, together with Rage Band, warmed us up with their renditions of 80’s tunes.

Soon as Lou Bonnevie and the Rage Band completed their act, the crowd was cheering, clapping hands, giving catcalls, and even shouting her name: Cyndiiiiiiiii! They too, like me, were so excited to see her. While the production team is busy dismantling the band equipment of the opening act, Cyndi’s band members appear and start testing their instruments. This made the crowd even more intense!

* * *

AT LAST…CYNDI LAUPER…LIVE!

A few moments later, Cyndi came out from the right side of the backstage. Everyone roared, including myself! “I’ve never been here since… (he paused for awhile to think)…it’s like a different life. Thank you all for coming tonight,” she humbly told her fans as the crowd got wild. Of course, the last time she was here was October 13-14, 1989, during her A Night to Remember Tour, so a lot of things have changed except for us loyal fans of her who kept faithful to her ’til now.

Someone in front of me flashed a 15″ x 20″ poster of her circa 1980s: “Look at me… I can’t always dress the same,” she joked. “Let’s make some noise!” she encouraged everyone as she started with her first song of the night, “She Bop”. Scream to death!

As she sang, the crowd also sang along with her. At 58, who would’ve thought that this veteran could still hop, strut, flex, dance, run, and lay on the floor while swagging her two legs up in the air while singing live? As she sang the first chorus, she went down the stage to be with her fans sitting in front from the far left side and stood in a chair. Then she went back to the stage and sang there again.

And just before she finished the second chorus, she went down the stage again for the second time around, and this time she headed in the aisle! Before I knew it, she was already standing in front of us (just 2 rows away from us).

I felt like I was floating in the sky when I finally got a chance to hug, hold, and dance with Cyndi while she sang beside me. At that moment, I thought to myself that I could already die with happiness in me 0:-)

It’s like, “OMG! This is it! I can’t believe I’m standing beside the woman behind the photos from my entire CD collection!” Special thanks to Jackie-Llave Carurucan for these screencaps 0:-)

Sitting in F1 with high hopes, prayers, and fingers crossed all paid off! F-reakin’ awesome!!! Eeeeeeeeh!

Cyndi even glanced at me. . .

At that moment, I feel like I’m sharing the “light” (and attention) with my childhood idol and icon.

Cyndi was like a saint statue that Catholic people adore; everyone wants a piece of her, so they’d do anything (myself included) just to touch whatever they could—her back, her hands, her arm—just anything. Well, you couldn’t blame them because Cyndi’s a goddess of pop rock music, so consider this a rare, once-in-a-blue-moon apparition!

Her second song of the night, “Set Your Heart,” off her dance-oriented 2008 album (and a personal favorite of mine), Bring Ya To The Brink, took off. But after singing just a few lines, she asked her band to stop the music. She requested everyone stop taking photos of her from a certain angle.

“I want to come out and party with you. But if you could’ve tramped on me so that I couldn’t sing, I couldn’t come out. So, what’s it gonna be???” While walking back to the stage, she kept requesting everyone to cooperate with her. “‘Cause I wanna see you too, but you can’t be pullin’ on me because I gotta work,” then the whole crowd went more ga-ga on her with her witty, comedic way of explaining while she tightened up the lace of her shoes on the monitor speaker to her front left.

“And I don’t mind pictures, but you are not supposed to be under my chin…that was the deal, remember?” as she added more “fun” to it. “Just think about all the weddings you went to, and they took all those horrible pictures, right? And how were they? Right under here (pointing down to her chin).” And everyone laughed.

As soon as the “rules” were clearly set, Cyndi resumed singing the song. For the third time, she went down the stage, and this time she went to Row C, where my newly found friend Andres was sitting. . .

Soon after she finished the song, “When You Were Mine” (off of her RIAA-certified 6x Platinum-selling debut album, She’s So Unusual), two of her assistants helped her attach the guitar to her body. You can hear the crowd cheering with this familiar song.

After the song ended, Cyndi went backstage briefly while the band continued to play the intro to her next song, “What’s Going On”. Once again, the crowd was pleased to hear this another familiar song of hers off of her 1986 album, True Colors. She then continued with “Lyfe,” this time we can only hear mainly the drums as the intro. During this time, Cyndi asked, “How {are} you doing?” I hope I didn’t scare you… I wanna see you dancing, but don’t come ‘down’ on me,” she said in a well-natured manner.

Three blues cover songs followed, “Just Your Fool” and “Crossroads” off of her 14-week #1 Billboard Blues Album, Memphis Blues; then she explained why she’s singing the blues, especially the next one, “Down Don’t Bother Me,” originally sung by blues legend Albert King.

The karaoke-style live concert resumed when Cyndi started singing a very well-known hit of hers, “All Through The Night”. Accompanied by her inseparable dulcimer, Cyndi even joked before she started the song when some fans screamed, “True Colors!”. “No, not that, later…if you really feel anxious, go for a walk, and come back in, uhm, I don’t know, an hour?” The audience laughed wildly and applauded her comedic sense. It’s no wonder why she was nominated twice (1994, 1995) and won for the latter year for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series.

Still accompanied by her dulcimer, Cyndi sang “Time After Time”. People can’t stop singing with her from beginning to end, and it gave me goosebumps to hear and see everyone interacting with Cyndi. And yes, you can see from Cyndi’s face how she was impressed with her Filipino crowd’s response to singing along with her. And not just sing; everyone’s clapping to the beat of it! It was really a genuine moment with a legend like Cyndi.

The stellar performances continued as she next sang “I Drove All Night” from her 1989 album, A Night To Remember, followed by “Change Of Heart,” where she went down for the fourth and fifth time! Yes, for this song alone, she went down the stage twice; the latter was when she even passed by our aisle to and fro. . .

Cyndi walks by as she approaches her crowd at the back

In the middle of “Change of Heart”, a minor technical problem occurred, and Cyndi had to walk back, passing us once again, with a lucky kid in front of us being greeted by Cyndi.

The rocking moment from “Change of Heart” to “Money Changes Everything” continued. More powerful than ever, Cyndi belted out this song, which truly amazed her fans. Her voice didn’t change. She sang it exactly the way it was some 29 years ago. The crowd won’t stop dancing and rejoicing. And for the sixth time, Cyndi went down the stage again, this time climbing up to the Lower Box area to shake hands, reach out, and sing with her fans there. As she screeched and belted out “Moneeeeeey” for a long time several times, the crowd couldn’t help but give her non-stop applause and shouts of joy!

Then, after the song, Cyndi went backstage again while the band continuously played the intro to her next song. The unfamiliar sound of the drum beats made the crowd wonder for a moment, and Cyndi later on came back dancing to her own signature impromptu choreography à la tribal dance. By the time a New Wave sound from the synthesizer came out, the audience roared and hinted that it was “Goonies ‘R’ Good Enough“! Who would forget this song…and the movie? And mind you, she rarely sings this song, as she admitted that she loathes this song mainly because of her bad experience during the shooting of the first-ever two-part music video.

Saving for her encore, the night will not be complete without her signature song, “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”. Everyone remained standing, dancing, and cheering to the song that transported us all back to the time when music was still music: the 80’s! And for the seventh and last time, Cyndi went down the stage and passed us by again to be with her crowd at the back. Fans were simply stunned by her unique voice, especially when she belted out the part,” I wanna be the one to walk in the SUUUUUUUUUN!” where the crowd roared and was totally blown away by her magnificent voice! With no back-up dancers, no air-defying stunts, no shocking costumes, and no eye-popping pyrotechnic visuals to distract and catch the attention of the audience as usually seen in most concerts, Cyndi Lauper made her fans go and go using only her pure voice, unbelievable talent, oozing charm, and endless energy.

Steve Gaboury (left) and Charlie Musselwhite as they bow down to us several times

By the time she returned to the stage, all of us were already in front of the stage, so we did not bother to return back to our seats anymore at the end of the song. Everyone’s dying to hear her sing the powerful ballad, “True Colors”. After introducing her band and bowing several times as if teasing all of us that the night is over, Mr. Steve Gaboury, Cyndi’s longtime keyboardist and blues legend, and Charlie Musselwhite, who played the harmonica all night, remained to sing the final song. Before it starts, like in her previous shows, Cyndi explained how she dedicates this song to her friend who died of AIDS.

That’s my left hand with the red bracelet touching Cyndi’s hand while my right hand with the red watch holds my phone still as I record.

Like in the past shows, in the middle of the song, Cyndi paused and raised her right fist as she believed it to be a salute to those who have died of AIDS, a reminder to the LGBT community to keep fighting for their rights, and “Power to the people… and power to you guys…and may all the {good} things come to you…” as she wishes everyone the best. I couldn’t help it; I raised my arm too, as if I were receiving a holy blessing from the pope. As she finished the song, everyone, including myself, kept screaming, “I love you, Cyndi!” The adrenaline rush in that venue was overwhelming. This is only proof that Cyndi is loved and is still loved by her Filipino fans.

Many fans, once again including myself, shouted, “More! More! More!” Two gays in front of me even tried to tease Cyndi by screaming, “Like a virgin!” And I thought to myself, WTF are these people trying to prove? Are Madonna fans given free Patron A tickets? And even so, the word common decency should always apply to any given chance and circumstance like this. And one doesn’t need a proper education to learn common decency! So, whoever these two people are, and I hope this blog post reaches them, grow up, folks! I like and respect Madonna, and even have her entire CD collection too, but put your filthy mouths in their proper places, yeah?

So what I did was I stared at them fiercely and instead shouted songs as popularized by Cyndi: “I’m Gonna Be Strong“, “Come On Home” and “Hole In My Heart”. Then they looked at me and asked me if those were Cyndi’s songs. So I replied diplomatically by saying, “Yes!” followed by educating them on the respective names of the albums where these songs appeared. Now that’s how you respect a diva like Cyndi Lauper, you idiots!

Anyway, in the end, Cyndi granted our request by singing “La Vie en Rose” off of her 2003 album, At Last. After she finished her song, she waved goodbye and said, “Hasta la vista, baby…see yah.”

Well, you better keep your promise, Cyndi, because, for sure, we will be there for you again as you bring another round of More Fun In The Philippines.

THOUGHTS

Cyndi Lauper Live in Manila was overall a success. On the other hand, as a blogger and probably as someone who has been exposed to advertising and marketing for years, I just thought that the event should have had more appropriate exposure prior to the concert date in order to announce to everyone that a legendary pop diva is coming back to town after 23 years. In this sense, other Lauper fans and concert-fanatics would be more motivated, perhaps enticed not to miss this once-in-a-blue-moon opportunity.

As a fan, all I know is that I don’t want to miss another 23 years of my life waiting in vain as to when Cyndi will come back for another stint in Manila…or not anymore. In my case, I really don’t mind flying from Bangkok to Manila and back just to be with Cyndi Lauper for a night. To me, it’s more like pursuing a magical dream to witness my childhood idol and icon in flesh.

But hope is always there to keep us motivated and better prepared for the future. With that ever-cheerful and lively Filipino audience who came last March 17, I do believe that Ms. Cyndi Lauper won’t mind coming back to the Philippines once again because when she parted the words, “See yah,” that means she gave us a token — a promise that I for one grab a hold on to it.